Nikolai Kolganov
Nikolai Kolganov (2nd June 2164 - 7th March 2201) was a Russian-born communist politician and writer who was executed by the Colonial Authorities on Sirius Prime following a kangaroo trial. His death is seen by many as a catalyst for the Second Russian Civil War, a conflict which saw the end of the Russian Federation and the creation of the R-USSR and the Holy Russian Empire. Early Years Kolganov was born in Omsk, Russia in June 2164, his family was of Uzbek descent his paternal grandparents having fled that country during a period of civil disorder during the 2120's. Nikolai showed great promise in his early school years and at sixteen was transfered to a state run academy outside Moscow where he excelled in engineering and chemistry. During his time at the Academy he also became interested in politics, joining debating team and often disagreeing with his tutors over state policies. By his eighteenth birthday he was a commited communist, seeing that doctrine as the best way to reverse what he saw as Russians social and political decline. Revolutionary Writer and Exile In 2193 Kolganov gained employment in the press office of the industrial mega-corporation "Ural Steel and Chemicals". During the day he wrote press reports and speeches for members of the board, at night he wrote a series of scathing attacks against corporate greed, political corruption, and moral decay under an array of pseudonyms. In 2195 he published his first pamphlets calling for revolution, six months later his identity was revealed when an associate was arrested whilst printing Kolganov's works and tortured into revealing who was writing the works. Kolganov was forced into hiding and eventually managed to escape out of Russia to Norway in the WEU. Moscow began extradition procedures against Kolganov but he was able to purchase false documents and flee to the Indian city of Kolkata where the socialist government granted him exile. For the next five years Kolganov wrote a number of books and pamphlets calling upon the people to throw out their corrupt leaders and form a new government based along communist lines. He also began writing more and more about the rumours of slave labour camps and explotative conditions of workers out on the colonies. Several of his friends from university had simply disappeared over the years and many are thought to have been sent out to Sirius Prime to work in the mines and foundries out there. Arrest and Execution In August 2200 Kolganov heard rumours that the Russian government had begun rounding up more and more dissidents and sending them off-world. In December he was able to contact an associate who still worked for Ural Steel & Chemicals who managed to gain false papers and a travel permit out to Sirius Prime for him. Kolganov arrived on Sirius Prime on board an Indian-registered ship and began searching for evidence of the rumoured prison camps, evidence which he was eventually able to uncover and dispatch to Earth on the same ship which had brought him there. As he was preparing to leave however Kolganov was recognised by a member of the local police and arrested. The Colonial Administrator quickly arranged a show trial for Kolganov on the charges of possessing false papers and entering Russian territory without authorisation. Kolganov was repeatedly beaten by the police and refused both food and medical aid, during one beating he was struck across the face and his left eye rendered blind. He was refused access to any legal representation. The trial began on the 5th of March 2201 and lasted just 36 hours, most of which was taken up by the prosecution. Kolganov attempted to defend himself but the Judges presiding over the trial repeatedly ignored his efforts. He was found guilty at 18:02 local time on the evening of March 6th 2201, the next morning Kolganov was taken from his cell and hanged. The official announcement of the trial and execution were released on Earth a fortnight later. Several officials on Sirius sympathetic to the communist cause had managed to smuggle out video footage and photopgraphs of the trail and these were released onto the net several hours later. The images of Kolganov's beaten and bloody face caused outrage across Russia. The writer and activist Krechet Vladimir Rurickovich, an old friend and rival of Kolganov, called for a general strike and protests across the whole country, a call which was answered by opposition groups across Russia. The government attempted to supress these protests using the army and within a week Russia was in a state of civil war. Legacy and Memorials After the Civil War Kolganov's body was recovered from his unmarked grave by the newly appointed Soviet leaders and returned to Earth where it was interned in a mausoleum in New Leningrad. It is estimated that across the territories of the R-USSR there are at least eight hundred and fifty statues and other public monuments dedicated to Kolganov along with scores of public and government buildings. Every major population center has at least one road or street named after him and by one reckoning nearly three percent of the male population of the R-USSR carries the name Nikolai or some derivative. There are also a number of monuments to him in Kolkuta, the flat where he lived is a museum. The University of New Leningrad awards the Kolganov Medal to its highest scoring student each year. The 7th of March is a public holiday in both the R-USSR and the Eastern European Union. In the HRE Kolganov is not held in quite such high esteem, although he is considered a hero for his opposition to the government. The Russian Orthodox Church has declared him a martyr, something which the normally atheist R-USSR has privately welcomed as a fitting sign of respect. Category:People